Channel Six in bid to convince ITC to give go-ahead for national music TV
Channel Six: looking to go national.
The Dundee-based local television station Channel Six has applied to the UK’s broadcasting regulators in an ambitious bid to gain permission to broadcast its free-to-air local music television station nationally.If successful, such a move would give Channel Six a significant foothold in the UK’s hard-to-reach youth market with advertisers.
The proposal for the dial-a-music video service is currently being scrutinised by the Independent Television Commission and the Department of Media Culture and Sport and, if successful, will enable Channel Six to broadcast a national music channel targeted at teenagers and featuring interviews and performances with young, unsigned bands as well as music from established artists.
At the moment Channel Six broadcasts to the Tayside area 24 hours a day on terrestrial television and since its launch in May 2001 it has become the most popular channel for under-25s living and studying in the Tayside region.
The channel’s format is highly regional, with segments focusing on unsigned local bands, community information, arts programming and student animations, but the station’s managing director, Dave Rushton, believes a similar format could be adapted for a national station.
Speaking of the plan, Rushton said: “As a species of music TV the unique character of this national channel would be in its support for local unsigned bands and short films, videos and its dial-a-video selection of music clips.
“We believe that this is an approach that can be sustained on a UK-wide music channel, one that draws on the wealth of musical and production creativity as yet untouched by the commercial music stations.”
If granted a licence to broadcast nationally, Channel Six would be going head to head with satellite and digital music request channels such as The Box, Q and Smash Hits.